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Laird Behaim
is the leader of the Behaim circle after the death of his father, Aimon Behaim. He is the police chief and head of one of the most influential practitioner groups in Jacob's Bell. As a Chronomancer, he used his position to influence how supernatural cases were covered up and, despite the affable nature he maintained, he has an immense dislike of the Thorburn Family in contrast to his father. He was killed by Blake Thorburn during the climax of the contest with Conquest. Appearance Laird is tall, wide, and sturdily built.Laird looked imposing. Where Alister and Ainsley were still growing, taller than their peers, but not yet as big as their grown family members, Laird was tall and wide and sturdily built. Heavy eyebrows made his glare all the more ominous. - Excerpt from Interlude 12 He has dark, straight hair that is just starting to gray, and pale blue eyes.“Would you give me your name, please?” Laird Behaim asked me. He had an intense gaze. Pale blue eyes to go with very dark, straight hair, just starting to gray at the sideburns. - Excerpt from Bonds 1.4 Personality Laird, as a practitioner, is cautious in his approach and dealings. Most of the Spirits, civilians, and other Practitioners have a healthy amount of respect for him. He covets power, seeking to make himself a Lord and has an immense distrust of all those of the Thorburn Family and has seemed to pass that throughout his family, fostering into them that no matter the cost dealing with the heirs is the most important thing. That being said, he considers himself a family man and utilizes that as his justifications for most of the things he does, including tricking Maggie Holt into attacking Molly Walker with the intent on crippling her only for it to result in her death. To this end, upon his premature death by Blake, half of his remaining time was transferred to his son, whom would only have another year to live. Sandra Duchamp suspected that he was borderline suicidal and came to the contest with her nudging, intent on sacrificing himself to give Conquest a foothold in the world to be free of the burdens he had sheltered because he felt he was ultimately a pawn in the games of his father and Roselyn.“I believe he’s been setting his affairs in order. The tone of our last conversation suggested it. It didn’t take much of a push to get him to go to Toronto. He asked me to look after the Behaim family in his absence. Are you seeing where I’m going with this?” “You’re talking about the Lord and Laird in the same breath.” “Which is amusing when you think about the link of his name to the title. Maybe Destiny has her way after all.” “One and the same?” the girl asked. “Oh. Oh. You think he’s going to sacrifice himself to give the Lord of Toronto a foothold?” - Excerpt from Signature 8.4 Art Laird is a Practitioner who manipulates time, a Chronomancer. As all proper chronomancers must, he has a good fundamental understanding of numbers. He can manipulate the perception of time, erase points of time from a person, age them, and so on. He is also a Dabbler and has had training in countering Demons from Rose Thorburn Senior. Basics *Laird's Implement and Familiar is a pocket-watch that holds a Zeitgeist. *Laird has a Demesnes in his home. Spells, Rituals, and other Feats *His most notable spell is using his Pocket Watch to mess with other's perception of time, making it appear as if time skipped forward.The Behaims didn’t alter time itself. That would be insane. It would require more power than they could feasibly manipulate, to alter reality on a fundamental, core level. They manipulated other people’s perceptions of time. - Excerpt from Void 7.5 *He can age an object or barrier to the point of disintegration. Laird or Craig were doing something to the door, eroding it by aging it, but it was a metal door, and the process was slow. - Excerpt from Subordination 6.12 *He can stop himself in time.Something tripped, and a device launched out from under the car. Like a hockey puck, it skidded out beneath Laird’s outstretched foot. Laird stopped, foot suspended in mid-step. He moved it out of the way, bent down, and carefully picked up the object. - Excerpt from Subordination 6.12 *With a complicated ritual involving two powerful families, he can surround an area of land with an aura of slowed time. The aura only affects practitioner's Sight and not anything else.The circle around the house, it was a trick, a vast, complex trick. I’d seen two very different images when viewing it in the real world and with my Sight. - Excerpt from Void 7.5 *Alternately he can blare his music over an area, and slow down the perception of everyone in the area.Time as we recorded and tracked it was a construct, attitudes toward it changed from culture to culture, person to person. He was altering that attitude. Things were slowing down, in action and thought, and it was getting worse. I knew my actions were slowed, but my thoughts were gradually catching up. - Excerpt from Void 7.6 *He dabbles a bit in Shamanism. By using runes to call on certain Spirits, he can draw others' away from a certain spot. He's on good terms with the spirits in Jacob's Bell, so it's more difficult for other practitioners to use those spirits against him.“That should provide a bit of privacy,” Laird said. He sipped his coffee. “We tend to learn a few tricks, because it’s expedient. This one is a bit of shamanism. - Excerpt from Bonds 1.5 *He's proficient in basic Warding, including some advanced ones for warding against DemonsLaird drew in a deep breath, then told Maggie, “If it came down to it and Blake Thorburn sent something like that after my family, if I didn’t have measures in place, or if I didn’t feel my measures would hold, then I would use gun, knife, bludgeon, or whatever I had at my disposal to kill my family before that thing could reach them. Because I love my family too much to do otherwise.” ... “It’s a big deal then,” Maggie said. “Why aren’t you taking the offer?” “Because I do have measures that should be effective. *He can also perform Augury spells. Though it seems to be pricier and more unreliable than his normal magic. “Laird’s an augur,” I said. “He can see the future. Now that we know the time magic is mostly bullshit and bullshitting, I’m suspicious that the ‘seeing the future’ thing is one of their more costly activities. I’m not sure how it works, but he might be working out the best plans of attack.” - Excerpt from Void 7.6 Chronology Before the story Before the story, he had been trained by his father and Roselyn in combatting demons in hopes of bringing change. He also did the same for Alister Behaim. Bonds Laird appears as one of the figures in Blake's dream, meeting with him later and explaining the power balance situation to him and Rose. However, he uses the opportunity to lead them into a trap by distorting their sense of time and leaving them prey to the Others that lurk after dark. He then explains while he is an enemy, he has no immediate plans to deal with him as he doesn't see him as an immediate threat. Damages Laird arrives at a store where Blake was to retrieve him and take him to the council meeting. Once there he called it to order and started by asking Blake to introduce himself. When Blake tried to set the groups against each other, divide and conquer, he diffused the situation by suggesting Mara, Briar Girl, and Maggie Holt take the deal since he can protect his own family as well as the Duchamps. Although Padraic, and he claims Johannes, are offended and require Sandra to smooth things over. He then calls for a vote to whether Maggie should be executed for abusing her powers, but it doesn't go through. Later on Laird appears to stop an alliance between Maggie and Blake, revealing that on his orders to subdue Molly Walker Maggie accidentally killed her and that he was retaliating for an attack on his reputation by Blake later on. Breach Laird is at the wedding reception and has all of the assembled members of his circle work together to lay a spell on the property of the Hillglade's House, only for Blake to interfere and then have him and Sandra Duchamp taken to court. However, he managed to get out and restart the entire ritual for a reduced effect and sent Andy to inform him that they would call it even for the time being and he wouldn't pursue him unless he retaliated again. Subordination He appeared at the beginning of the contest to appeal to Conquest and become one of his champions, bringing members of his family with him to participate. When Blake appears at the police station he arrives in the spirit world to confront him, planning on keeping him alive for some reason but withered and old and helpless, when he ends up being captured by Blake with assistance from the Hyena. Void They then trap him in a circle that is inside another circle, with Pauz acting as a guard dog to watch him until the contest is done. Somehow he manages later on to get his implement and then escape, setting Pauz free to attack Blake only to realize the imp was a bluff. He later appears at Duncan's home with the full power of his circle behind him and tries to reason with Blake before setting into motion a plan to slow him down so that Conquest could capture him. He held Blake in place so that his own Echoes would assault him with memories of his worse experiences, and as a result Blake stabs him in the throat. He later bleeds out on the snow and dies. Category:Characters Category:Dabblers Category:Chronomancers Category:Practitioners